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1888,] 2G 
Joseph Prestwich, Shoreham, Eng.; Bath and West of England 
Agricultural Society, Bath; Royal Statistical Society, Meteor- 
ological Council, “Nature,” London; Prof. Eben Norton Hors- 
ford, New York; Mr. W. J. Potts, Camden; Academy of 
Natural Sciences, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Messrs. 
Henry Phillips, Jr, Richard Wood, Philadelphia; Elisha 
Mitchell Scientific Society, Raleigh, N. C. 
A photograph for the album was received from Dr. Julius 
Platzmann, Leipzig. 
The following deaths of members were reported : 
F. Bowyer Miller, Melbourne, September 17, 1887. 
James Curtis Booth, Philadelphia, March 21, 1888, eet. 78. 
Joseph Zentmayer, Philadelphia, March 28, 1888, et. 62. 
On motion, the President was authorized to appoint suitable 
persons to prepare the usual obituary notices for Messrs. Booth 
and Zentmayer. 
Mr. Law presented, for the Proceedings, a paper on “Gildas 
and Harly English History.” 
Mr. DuBois, from the Committee on Revised Spelling, ap- 
pointed January 6, 1888, reported progress, and the commit- 
tee was continued until it should be ready to make a final 
report. 
Prof. Kdwin J. Houston made the following oral communi- 
cations : 
On Death by the Electric Current. 
Several cases of death have resulted from incautious or accidental 
touching or handling of the wires employed in carrying the currents used 
in electric lighting. It becomes, therefore, a matter of great importance 
to inquire into some of the peculiarities of such accidents. 
There are, as is well known, two distinct characters of current employed 
for the purpose of electric illumination; viz., the direct current and the 
alternating current. The direct current, as employed in electric lighting, 
is fairly steady and uniform. Its electro-motive force, as a rule, is not 
subject to marked changes in value, and the direction of its flow is always 
the same. The alternating current, on the contrary, changes both the 
value of its electro-motive force and its direction, taking its name from the 
fact that it flows alternately in opposite directions. The changes in the 
electro-motive force are considerable in amount ; they are not, however, 
as is very generally believed, necessarily sudden, since in most cases the 
